July 29, 2011 10:02 pm
The new upper middle
By Lauren Cochrane
Marilyn Monroe in the early 1950s
And so we come to the great reveal: no, not a further uncovering of rogue reporting shenanigans, but rather the fashion version of the above. It’s just as scary. The midriff is being exposed.
From fringed and cropped pieces worn with lace-up hipsters at Roberto Cavalli to combos of bikini tops and low-slung culottes at Vanessa Bruno; from striped high-waisted pencil skirts that don’t quite meet shorter vest tops at Versace to stomachs veiled under layers and frills of chiffon at Givenchy – that area of the body between the waist and the ribs is the current erogenous zone of choice for designers.
More
On this story
Think of it as the “upper middle”, seen in the late 1990s when girl-band All Saints stormed the charts wearing cropped tops and combats. They and the young Britney Spears combined the look with low-slung hipsters that revealed the navel and belly – but many of today’s midriff-baring styles are limited to the high-rise. Designers claim the upper/lower distinction is key.
“I’m not a fan of the lower midriff area,” says young British designer Danielle Scutt, “but showing the part just below the bust can be really flattering.” The focus is on the upper midriff, generally a leaner part of the body than the lower.
In his spring/summer collection, Richard Nicoll too concentrated on the midriff as a counterpoint to the obvious – pairing exposed flesh with midi-length skirts and buttoned-up blouses. Nicoll veils the midriff under layers of sheer fabric – one way to brave the trend off the catwalk. “Layering is signature to my collections,” he says. “For the commercial pieces, we put a layer of opaque under the sheer. It’s about concealing and revealing.”
Versace spring/summer 2011 collection
It also harks back to the summer silhouettes of the 1940s and 1950s – think Audrey Hepburn in cocktail trousers and cropped blouse in Funny Face – as seen recently on Rihanna, Chloe Sevigny, Beyoncé, Alexa Chung and Jennifer Lopez. “People think this is a trend for young, skinny girls,” says Stephanie Jones, women’s wear buyer at Liberty. “It’s not necessarily true. I’m curvy and often wear a cropped piece with high-waisted trousers, or a maxi skirt. It looks sexy without that much flesh on show.”
Melissa Ramos, a press officer, would never bare her navel, but is happy to combine higher-waisted Capri pants with a cropped T-shirt. “I don’t have a problem with the upper midriff,” she says. “There’s something more ‘put-together’ about this look, not so teenagery and trashy. The glimpse of midriff implies something without being obvious, and it’s super-sexy too.”
Now that legs and bust have become hackneyed symbols of sex in evening dress, the midriff feels fresh – and safe too. By showing even an inch of stomach, but wearing trousers or a longer skirt, you can add allure while keeping covered elsewhere.
Brand consultant Madeleine Davenport believes she can carry off this look in the City. She often wears a cropped silk Hermione de Paula T-shirt with tailored trousers and says, “I’ve got a great vintage Alaia cropped top which has a higher neckline and long sleeves. It shows skin without being overexposed; a bit like wearing a long skirt or dress with a split to the side instead of a super-short hemline.”
Designer Geoffrey J Finch, whose Antipodium collection mixes layers of chiffon with cropped pieces, says such sneaky physical revelations allow wearers to keep their options open: “We’ve realised you can go bare but it’s good to add layering too. It’s whispering sexiness, not shouting about it.”
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
Cutting it out
Beyoncé and Chloe Sevigny
For those still sceptical about flashing their upper tummies, there is yet another option this summer: the cut-out – a controlled approach to exposure, allowing just a small amount of skin to be on show. At Christopher Kane, small slices of fabric were cut away under the bust; at Stella McCartney and Hakaan, some hip flesh was on display; and Theysken’s Theory provided a glimpse of back. Antipodium’s Geoffrey J Finch calls the cut-out a “nice way to show a glimpse of skin”, while Danielle Scutt sees it as a “way to emphasise a body part in a flattering way”.
“Cut-outs are a much easier way to wear the trend,” says Liberty’s Stephanie Jones. “Stella’s fruit dress, with cut-outs at the side of the waist, drapes so it’s very flattering. Or the back is a really nice part of the body to show – I have a Phillip Lim dress that exposes the lower back but keeps the bra strap covered.” Safety first, you know.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011.
It’s time for a cover-up
By Bethan Cole
Uma Thurman at Cannes
Sometimes a maxi skirt is just a maxi skirt – and sometimes it’s a cultural/political statement. It is, however, not always clear where the distinction lies. On one hand there’s an increasing tendency among style-setters to be more covered up; on the other, feminists and certain religious groups are eschewing their traditional mufti in favour of fashionable, if still floor-length, garb.
The result is a movement towards modesty seemingly everywhere you turn. And while it would be wrong to conflate the two, they both reflect the zeitgeist.
Professor Reina Lewis of the London College of Fashion has conducted research into “modest dressing”. “I found that it is expanding among young women across the world,” she says. “Especially among women of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions. They were not using ethnic clothing to do this, but instead participating in mainstream fashion to find items that covered up naked flesh.”
It’s worth noting that the Duchess of Cambridge opted not for a ubiquitous strapless bustier wedding dress but rather something notably demure. Nigella Lawson, likewise, did not stroll on to the beach in Australia recently wearing a “dental floss bikini” but instead a burkini, leaving absolutely no area of her body exposed.
More
On this story
The signs have been there all year. At January’s Golden Globes, actress Tilda Swinton wore a mannish shirt and a long drapey maxi skirt (Jil Sander); at Cannes in May, Uma Thurman sported a long-sleeved, floor-grazing blue gown, which, despite being body-hugging and fluid, didn’t reveal much flesh at all.
Leith Clark, stylist and editor-in-chief of Lula magazine, says: “I spied Isabel Lucas on the back page of US Weekly wearing a long white dress with a jacket on top, with a hat. Very covered up, very amazing. I thought she looked like such a dream.”
Clark adds: “I don’t think that when women dress like [glamour model] Jordan they’re dressing for themselves. I don’t think they look comfortable or happy.”
Stylist and writer Jane de Teliga, director of London-based image consultancy Style On Call, says: “It is now considered rather vulgar to be deeply tanned and overly exposed. We have gone as far as we can with deep tanning and revealing our bodies, short of being completely naked, so it was inevitable that it would become more chic to be paler and more covered up.”
Sally Jacobs, a London-based marketing consultant, adds: “In the 1990s I was a typical teenage club babe wearing fluffy bras and mini skirts to go out at night, exposing acres of tanned flesh. Now I’m in my 30s I prefer to cover up with Equipment silk blouses and Zara peg trousers at night. It’s much more discreet, classy and classic.”
Her feelings are echoed by teacher Siobhan Flack: “In my teens and early twenties I wore shorts, hot pants and mini skirts a lot but, though I still like wearing miniskirts, I now wear leggings underneath. In my work it is more appropriate to wear more demure things.”
Whether you chalk it up to a turn of the fashion wheel, a feminist statement, or something more personal, the result is that when you enter a shop in a last-minute dash for an August vacation cover-up, you are likely to find not itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny pieces of fabric but something much more substantial. Maxi skirts, maxi dresses, palazzo pants and jumpsuits to be specific, along with big 1970s-inspired kaftans everywhere from Pucci to Marks and Spencer.
“We see consistently strong sales across tunics, kaftans and cover-ups in our beachwear category, with Missoni and Pucci being perennial favourites,” says Holli Rogers, buying director at Net-a-porter.com. “Women look for flattering easy-to-wear pieces for the beach or in the bar.” John Lewis reports a 103 per cent rise in sales of swim cover-ups, year on year, especially maxi dresses and cotton kaftans such as the embellished René Derhy La Plage range. This month at least, more is definitely more.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011.
Comments